Dreams
by Namine's angel
Summary: It was only after Lucifel Fell that Michael tried to sleep.


It was only after Lucifel Fell that Michael tried to sleep. Normally, Angels didn't need to, and since Michael was such a high-ranking Angel, he was usually too busy to experience a nap first-hand. Even when he had the time, he never did, since he didn't quite see the point. Plus, he enjoyed being awake with his friends or with Lucifel, especially if he brought something new from Earth, be it a new board game, a new story, a new concept that Humans had, or some new snippet of information about them. It was always nice to see Lucifel, who was usually a bit sarcastic and aloof, passionately talk about something that, while fun, seemed rather fun on the surface, like _Monopoly_. Not that everything he showed or spoke to Michael about was like that (his fascination with buildings did not seem simple on the surface), but quite a few things were.

One of those things (at least, at first) was sleeping. On that particular day, Michael had been sitting and thinking over the recent Council meeting when Lucifel suddenly appeared beside him. Since Michael was used to Lucifel's ability to teleport and move through time and space, that wasn't what surprised him. What did puzzle him was the fact that Lucifel looked a little more refreshed than he usually did.

"Welcome back, Lucifel." Michael said, giving his brother a smile. "How was your trip?"

"It was fine. There's nothing interesting to report from the future though." Lucifel replied, returning Michael's smile as he pulled out a chair and sat down at the long table. "I did learn something interesting though."

"What did you learn?"

"What sleep is like. I was sitting in the middle of a long opera and got bored, so I tried to pass the time by dozing off a little. It was odd at first, but I did have an interesting dream about us. And when the lead singer woke me up in the middle of the third act, I felt great. A little sore, but I got a second wind blown into me." At all of this, Michael just looked confused.

"Lucifel, I can understand why you wanted to try sleeping, but what is an opera? And isn't it rude to fall asleep when other people are singing?"

"It's fine. No need to worry. Operas are just boring melodramatic musicals anyway, so they're not that interesting. The dream was more entertaining." As he spoke, Michael looked a little displeased since, while it was good and interesting that Lucifel had discovered exactly what sleep was like, it was still rude to fall asleep when other people were singing for you, even if you hadn't liked it.

"Even if you didn't like it, it's still rude to fall asleep during a performance, Lucifel. Just like how it's rude to constantly check your phone during Council meetings."

"I've told you that I only check it when there's nothing important going on, so it's fine. Besides, don't you want to know what we did in my dream?"

"I don't think it's fine for you to do that..but I am curious about what exactly happened in your dream."

"Well, I don't know why, but I was Falling down from Heaven, crying and screaming like a baby, and my chest hurt for some reason, but I couldn't look at it. All I could do was stare back up at you and some other people I didn't know as you buried your face in your hands and screamed with me. That's about when the singer woke me up." While Michael stayed silent as Lucifel spoke, he looked like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on his head, and when he spoke up again, his voice was soft. Lucifel, on the other hand, was still smiling.

"Lucifel, I don't know how you can call that interesting. That is..it's horrifying. How can you talk about it so calmly?"

"Because it's not true. It may have been a bad dream that the opera caused, but it's just amusing to me because I'm not going to Fall. I'm not stupid, and I'm not going to leave you."

"I don't know whether or not we should call Falling foolish, but..I am glad that you see the humor in it. How could the opera bring on that dream though?"

"Things you see or hear before you sleep can affect your dreams. Apparently, a lot of Humans have done studies on this, but it's more fun to experience it instead of studying it. What do you think? If you want, I could put on some soothing music for us, and we could both try to fall asleep together and see what happens."

"I'd rather not. I'm sorry, Lucifel, but..I'd rather not run the risk of having a dream like that. I'm happy you find yours humorous, but I..don't see it as funny."

"Oh, alright then." With that, the conversation turned to other things, and while Lucifel briefly talked about his dreams afterwards once or twice, they never talked about sleeping together again. Michael didn't even really think about Lucifel's nightmare much until the day it happened right in front of him. Until the day Enoch's soul was shattered into seventy-two pieces and Lucifel, his chest a bloody hole, fell down screaming into Hell. All he could do that day was bury his face in his hands as he wept, screamed, and remembered the first dream Lucifel had told him about. The one he had written off as something amusing because he was never going to Fall and leave him.

After about a week or so (in Earth time, of course), Michael made a little room for himself in Heaven that contained nothing but a big bed with a plump mattress, a soft, squishy pillow, and a thick down comforter. Since he knew how Humans normally slept, he switched the lights off, took his clothes off, and crawled into bed, resting his head on the pillow and closing his eyes. Since he didn't feel particularly tired, it took him awhile to doze off, even though the comforter, while odd, felt warm, pleasant, and soothing on his bare skin.

When he finally managed to drift off though, he dreamt. Of course, like all dreams, it was foggy, but he could see Lucifel, wearing thick clothes and a long coat, standing under a streetlight in the middle of a modern of a modern city at night. Oddly enough though, the streets were empty, which he knew wasn't normal from the few times Lucifel had taken him to the modern era. Suddenly, Lucifel turned around to face someone-Michael, though his hairstyle and clothes were different from how they usually were. Even though Lucifel was a Fallen Angel, he didn't run away. Instead, he smiled warmly at his brother, who returned it as he pulled Lucifel into a hug.

For some reason, this was when Michael woke up, though he was slow to sit up or open his eyes. He knew it was a dream, but Lucifel's smile, the feel of the sidewalk underneath him, and Lucifel's body in his arms felt so real, and he wanted to have that again. For better or worse though, Michael couldn't go back to sleep, but, as he sat up, he generated the clothes he'd been wearing in his dream onto his body, along with two hairties, before he started to change his hairstyle. It was possible that that hadn't been a prophetic dream. It was wholly possible that that was just a random dream and that he and Lucifel would never stand side-by-side together again.

But, since Lucifel's first dream had been a prophetic one, Michael believed that this one was too. He had to believe it. Someday, he and Lucifel would meet again, smile, and hug each other. Someday, that would happen. Believing that, Michael stood up, made the room, the bed, and his old clothes vanish with his mind, and went to see to his work in Heaven.

He never tried to sleep again.


End file.
